Your Last Love
by Rasiaa
Summary: The same girl who he'd loved for nearly ten years, who was his very best friend since the day she was born, who was his everything, who would always be his everything, and, he thought bitterly, the same girl who caught on too late.


_For the "The Card Will Tell Your Fate Challenge" by halffictionalprincess, in which my card was the King of Diamonds. The prompts that came with the card were: Teddy Lupin, the genre romance, the quote, "I may not be your first kiss, your first love , first date, but I want to be your last." and the title, "Your Last Love." The challenge is on the HPFC forum.  
_

* * *

He knew before she did.

…

"Teddy! Everyone else disapproves, but please tell me you like it!"

Victorie came bounding into his room at Grimmauld Place, and he turned, half of his attention on the essay he had been assigned for the summer break. He preferred to get his work out of the way early, an idea that repulsed many of his friends. He added another sentence before facing Victorie fully, and found his train of thought abruptly derailed.

The blonde was a quarter Veela, so it made sense that she was beautiful. She curled her platinum blonde hair and pulled the front strands back, leaving the rest to its own devices along her back. She put in earrings- they looked like diamonds, from this distance- in both of her ear piercings. She wore a light pink blouse, and bleached short shorts.

He blinked at her for a moment; only able to register how much _skin_ she was showing before he remembered her question. "Oh- ah. Yes. It's quite nice, Vic," he stuttered absently, staring at her legs before his gaze moved up to her face and then back down to her low-cut blouse.

She grinned knowingly at him and walked out the door. As soon as it closed behind her, his mind cleared, and he took a deep breath. Damn.

…

"Teddy! Help me out here- I need you!"

And, oh, how he wished she meant those words another way.

Victorie stood at the foot of his bed in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory for the fifth years. All of his dorm mates were out at the moment- he had no idea where- so Victorie saw no reason not to come waltzing in like she owned the place and demand his assistance on a matter he wanted absolutely nothing to do with. She was standing with a dress in each hand and had filled the end of his bed with about fifty different accessories. A blind man could see the endless combinations.

She wanted his opinion on her outfit for a date. He was sick just thinking about it.

"Why can't you ask your girlfriends for help? I'm sure that Lyla would be more than happy to give her over-abundant opinion," he asked bitterly, burying his face in his book and drawing his knees up to his chest.

Victorie huffed and dropped her arms. "Because, stupid," she said hotly, "Not everyone has a gay best friend to give fashion advice."

Okay- ouch. That hurt. He met her gaze angrily, "Okay, one- I'm not gay," he said, pointedly ignoring her disbelieving roll of her beautiful, crystal clear, pale blue eyes, "And two- even if I were, I have no fashion sense at all, so."

"You're just in denial," Victorie declared, and then held up the dresses again. "Which one?" she demanded again.

He huffed and pointed lazily to the one on the right, holding back a sneer when she chose the one on the left. He kicked a pair of shoes at her, and she went off from there, gathering all of her things and rushing out to get dressed.

He waved his hand at the door when she was gone, and watched in satisfaction as it swung shut with a slam. Wandless magic was his own personal secret.

So what if he'd never had girlfriend? He was in love with one girl, and frankly, he had no desire to run after another. He closed his eyes, wishing he had his parents to talk to.

His mother, he was told, would probably understand.

…

"Teddy! Teddy, please- I don't know why you're so upset with me!"

"Why don't you get your precious boyfriend to tell you why?" he demanded, and slammed his door in her shocked, hurt face.

He agreed to keep Victorie's relationship with her older boyfriend a secret, knowing it would only hurt him. Knowing that she would only get hurt, down the road. He never thought he would walk in on Victorie being pressed up against the wall with that pervert's hand down her skirt-

He grabbed his pillow and screamed into it, then threw it against the wall and sank down onto his bed, lowering his head to his knees. He took a few deep breaths as he pulled harshly at his hair, bright red strands coming free between his fingers.

It was steadily killing him, being the only one in the world who knew that Victorie was not a virgin any longer. "She's fifteen," he whispered to the floor, fighting back tears.

He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

…

"Teddy?"

"Go away, Victorie," he responded, scribbling furiously onto the parchment, cross referencing his words with those in the books around him. "I'm busy."

There was a pause, but he knew she wasn't gone. His feeling was confirmed when the chair across from him was pulled out and she dropped into it. "So," she said, a trace of nervousness in her voice that she was obviously trying to hide. If there was one thing he was good at, it was reading and hearing emotion. "You and Addy, huh?" she asked conversationally, though it was obviously forced.

He paused and looked up at her. She was tense all over, and her eyes looked sad. "Yeah," he said, thinking briefly of the girl who was Victorie's opposite in every way- quiet, calm, average intelligence, sort of mousy- before he refocused on the girl in front of him. The same girl who he'd loved for nearly ten years, who was his very best friend since the day she was born, who was his everything, who would always be his everything, and, he thought bitterly, the same girl who caught on too late. _Just when I thought I could get over you, Victorie Weasley._

He watched her break with that one word, watched her valiant effort to put herself back together again in a short second. He watched her fail. "Yeah," she agreed, her voice shaking ever so slightly. "S-so you like her, huh? Guess you're not gay after all, huh?" she said jokingly.

His lips thinned, and he looked back down at his paper, tapping his quill bitterly against the parchment. "Guess not," he agreed.

He heard her sigh, but he didn't look up as she stood. "Well, good luck, Teddy," she said, touching his shoulder briefly as she walked out of the library.

It felt so much like a final goodbye.

…

He saw her often, and he knew she saw him too, but their friendship had dissolved, the tension was palpable, and he wished on every star, on every spark, on every dying breath that he could have her back again.

His graduation was a few months away. For many years, he had imagined that she would by his side.

…

"Teddy! Teddy, please, wait…!"

He turned, half-hopeful, half-annoyed. "What is it?" he asked, waving his friends away.

She caught up to him, standing in short shorts and a tee shirt, her hair down to her waist in curls. She stood for a moment, catching her breath, while he watched distantly. "Please," she said. "I can't stand it anymore- don't leave me."

He choked on a laugh. "Leave you?" He shook his head and waved his arms a little bit in frustration. "Leave you? Great Godric, Vic, you are blind. It takes you forever to catch on to things."

She looked confused and insulted. "Excuse me?"

He ran an aggravated hand through his hair. "I've loved you for nearly a decade, Victorie, and when I decide that enough is enough, you come back to break my heart all over again." He shook his head. "I can't leave you- Vic, not when my whole world revolves around you."

She looked a little stunned; obviously the conversation had not gone according to her plan. "A decade?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. Victorie Weasley, I've loved you nearly my entire life, and I'll take you now, if that's what you want. I may not be your first kiss, your first love, first date, but I want to be your last. I wanted to be your first- first everything- but I'll take whatever you're willing to give me."

"Yes," she whispered, and pulled him down to her level, pressing their lips together, her other hand moving to play with the blue hair at the nape of his neck. "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes…"

He laughed into her mouth and pulled her closer. The only thought that crossed his mind was, _finally._


End file.
